HELP!!! digital camera question

[iluvtink]

Hi,

We're going to buy a digital camera for DD's Bday. She's a freshman in HS and spends a lot of her free time on IM, the internet (supervised, of course), and we need to know the minimum # of megapixels to get. I think I'm using the right terminology. She mainly will need to have pictures to e-mail, etc. and won't print out many. Can we get by with a 2.0, or do we need to jump to 3.1? I'd like her to be able to print out 4x6's if she wants to. I also have read that you need optical AND digital zoom. Any thoughts on that? Thanks! I'm going shopping this afternoon, so no need to respond after about 1:00 EST.

Thanks!

Kim the digitally challenged

 

[Tuffcookie]

I would not buy one with less than 3.

TC

 

[helenabear]

For a 4x6 print, I think a 2.0 is fine. I haven't looked at prices lately, but if they aren't much difference, I'd go with the 3.0 Optical zoom is MUCH more important than digital zoom. I wouldn't get any less than a 3x zoom myself

 

[skuttle]

We've had our camera for over a year now. We have 2.0 since we never plan on printing more than a 4x6. We have no complaints. Our pictures always come out great!

 

[niks81]

Seems to me that prices are going down on digi cams.

Sony advocate....and the camera I have and couldn't do without is the P8....3.1 mp and runs 299.99 at Best Buy Great quality, nice features, rechargeable battery!

 

[Taylor]

I also have the Sony PSC-P8 with 3.2 megapixels. Great quality camera, and it is very small in size. I bought mine at Circuit City since they were $50 cheaper than Best Buy. It left me with enough money to buy a 128mb memory stick.

 

[huey duey & luey]

We had a 2.O, and just bought the Sony P-8. We are very happy with it and the pictures are much clearer.
Tara

 

[niks81]

Circuit City cheaper than Best Buy?? NO WAY!

Seriously, the P8 is a great camera....and it is so small it fits in some dainty purses!

 

[Zurg]

Read this over:
http://allearsnet.com/btp/digital.htm

 

[teh fish]

you might want to try amazon.com. I got a digital camera $50 cheaper there than from best buy/circuit city.

 

[iluvtink]

Thanks to everyone who responded. We ended up buying a Fuji A205 for only $119.99 at Radio Shack! It's a 2 megapixel, but has both an optical and digital zoom lens. Since she will probably lose it or drop it on concrete about 30 times before it's a year old, that's probably a reasonable investment!!!

Kim

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by iluvtink
Thanks to everyone who responded. We ended up buying a Fuji A205 for only $119.99 at Radio Shack! It's a 2 megapixel, but has both an optical and digital zoom lens. Since she will probably lose it or drop it on concrete about 30 times before it's a year old, that's probably a reasonable investment!!!

Kim

Sounds great, I bet she will enjoy it, hope she has fun and learns much with a nice camera like that. Neat.